Primary Department: County Administration
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Diana Ramirez
Secondary Department: N/A
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official:
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Position
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): 10%
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A - Rate is not 0% and is listed above.
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the Office of County Administration for approval of a position effective April 5, 2025 for the ZEEBRA (Zoos Educating on Electronics and Battery Recycling Awareness) Grant Program.
end
Background and Discussion:
Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the purpose of the DOE’s Consumer Electronics Battery Recycling, Reprocessing, and Battery Collection funding opportunity is to support the recycling of consumer electronics batteries and battery-containing devices to help build a robust domestic critical material supply chain for electric vehicle (EV) batteries in the country. Awards were provided to increase consumer participation in recycling programs, improve the economics of consumer battery recycling to create a market for recycling them, or increase the number of these program. The awarded grant was for Topic Area 1: Expanding Consumer Participation in Consumer Electronics Battery Recycling Programs.
This position will assist in the management and implementation of the ZEEBRA project and will be responsible for program administration, ensuring grant compliance and meeting reporting requirements.
This position will be funded by the DOE’s Consumer Electronics Battery Recycling, Reprocessing, and Battery Collection grant for three years. Funding from the grant was accepted in August of 2024 and is currently available.
Expected Impact:
The goals of the ZEEBRA program are to improve consumer knowledge on battery recycling, enhance awareness of the importance of battery recycling and circularity, highlight recycling locations, promote recycling participation, and disseminate educational materials about battery recycling to Harris County residents. DOE funding will go towards behavior change research, design, and installation of an interactive educational display at the Houston Zoo as well as mobile educational displays, and a countywide education campaign. Harris County, as the lead, will be collaborating with the following subrecipients to deliver the ZEEBRA program: the Houston Zoo, the University of Houston, and Elevate Communications. The period of performance will be for 36 months. There is no required match for this grant.
With the approval of this position, the Office of Sustainability will ensure timely completion of milestones and deliverables for the ZEEBRA project.
Alternative Options:
Not hire additional staff and put at risk the completion of milestones and deliverables for the ZEEBRA project.
County Strategic Plan Goal: 5. Minimize the impact of climate change and disasters.
County Strategic Plan Objective: Q: Encourage residents, businesses, and public entities to significantly reduce their environmental footprint for the health of our region.
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): N/A
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): N/A
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): N/A
Health Initiative (Goal 4): N/A
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): N/A
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): N/A
Additional notes related to the Strategic Plan:
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
11/14/23 |
158 |
Request by the Office of County Administration for approval to submit an application to the U.S. Department of Energy for grant funds in an amount up to $5,000,000, with no required match, for the ZEEBRA: Zoos Educating on Electronics and Battery Recycling Awareness Program |
|
9/19/24 |
424 |
Request by the Office of County Administration for approval to accept from the U.S. Department of Energy grant funds in the amount of $4,860,332, with no required match, for the ZEEBRA: Zoos Educating on Electronics and Battery Recycling Awareness program. |
|
11/7/24 |
7 |
Request by the Office of County Administration for approval of a subrecipient agreement with Houston Zoo, Inc. in the amount of $1,191,154 for the ZEEBRA: Zoos Educating on Electronics and Battery Recycling Awareness Program. |
|
1/23/25 |
109 |
Request by the Office of County Administration for approval of a subrecipient agreement with Elevate Communications, Inc., in the amount of $225,000 for the ZEEBRA: Zoos Educating on Electronics and Battery Recycling Awareness Program. |
Location:
Address (if applicable):
Precinct(s): Countywide
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Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
|
Service Name |
|
|
|
|
Current Fiscal Year Cost |
Annual Fiscal Cost |
|
|
Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
Recurring Expenses |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
Existing Budget |
|
|
|
|
|
Grant |
$62,500 |
$ |
$62,500 |
$125,000 |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Existing Budget |
$62,500 |
$ |
$62,500 |
$125,000 |
|
Additional Budget Request (Requires Fiscal Review Request Form) |
|
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Additional Budget Request |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Funding Sources |
$62,500 |
$ |
$62,500 |
$125,000 |
|
Grants - Proposed Budget (To be filled out by Grants staff only) |
|
|
Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
No. of Grant Years |
|
Local Match Source - Existing Budget: Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
|
Local Match Source - Additional Budget Request: Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
|
Grant Funds Applied for/Awarded (Total) |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
|
Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
|
|
Current Position Count for Service |
0 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Additional Positions Request |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Total Personnel |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
Anticipated Court Date: 3/27/2025
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): 4/5/2025
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Lisa Lin, Director, Office of Sustainability, Office of County Administration; Carlos Hernandez, Sustainability Manager, Office of County Administration
Attachments (if applicable): Job Description, Form 3441